Garment construction



Feb. 2, 1943. R. HIRSCHFELD GARMENT CONSTRUCTION Filed June 18, 1942INVENTOR If Hirschfeld BY M A ORNEY Patented Feb. 2, 1943 UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE GARMENT CONSTRUCTION Rudolf Hirschfcld, New York, N. Y.

Application June 18, 1942, Serial No. 447,509.

2 Claims.

My present invention relates generally to garments, and has particularreference to certain improvements in a unitary woman's outer garmentsuch as a dress.

In a woman's garment in which there is a relatively narrow waistbandportion, it is customary to provide a slit or placket opening in thewaistband region, usually at the side, to facilitate the passage of thegarment over the bust or hips of the wearer when the garment is put onor taken off. A conventional construction utilizes buttons or similarelements, or a slide fastener, for the purpose of closing the placketopening after the garment has. been put on.

A general object of the present invention is to provide an improvedarrangement of parts in which a placket opening allows the waistbandportion to expand as the garment is put on or taken ofi, but in whichthere is no necessity at any time for any slide fastener or otherinstru- Inentality for mutually securing the opposed edges of theplacket opening along the full extent of the opening. In accordance withmy invention, I provide a permanent but expansible interior seal for theplacket opening in the form of a, specially constructed pocket.

With, this and other objects in view, it is a particular feature of thepresent invention to provide a pocket whose outer edges are permanentlysecured to the opposed edges of the placket opening, whose lower edgelies substantially below the lower end of the placket opening, and whoseinner edge converges upwardly with. respect to the. side of the garmentand merges with the latter at a point above the relatively narrowwaistband portion of the garment. 'Ifhe two walls of the pocket thusdefine an eX- pnnsible tapering interior pleat which permamently sealsthe placket but which nevertheless allows the Waistband portion of thegarment to expand when necessary.

Under certain circumstances. it may be desirable to provide some sort ofmeans for separably. connecting at least some portions of the opposededges of the placket opening after the garment has been put on. Thisconnecting means may take the form of one or more buttons or equivalentfasteners but their function is not to .39.4.1. the placket opening, andin fact these fasteners are preferably arranged in such a manner thataccess t c-the. pocket may be maintained at all times through the lowerpart of the placket opening.

In a preferred construction, the garment includes front and backsections which are joined together along a side seam, and the placketopening is arranged in alignment with the seam at the waistband regionof the garment. The pocket preferably consists of front and rear wallswhich are stitched together along all but the outer edges of the pocket,and the inner edge converges upwardly in a gradual manner toward theside seam, merging with the latter at a point above the waistbandportion a short distance below the armhole.

I achieve the foregoing objects, and such other objects as mayhereinafter appear or be pointed out, in the manner illustrativelyexemplified in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is aperspective view of a garment of the present character as it appearsfrom the front when worn;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the Waistband portion inthe expanded condition it may assume when the garment is to be put on ortaken off Figure 3 is an enlarged interior view of the present specialpocket construction; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken substantially alongthe line 4-4 of Figure l.

The garment I have chosen to illustrate is a womans dress of unitarycharacter, having a skirt portion II] and an upper portion llpermanently secured to each other. It will be noticed that the waistbandportion I2 is substantially narrower than the bust and hip portions. Itis this general type of unitary outer garment for which my presentinvention is intended.

In the illustrated garment, the construction involves front and backsections l6 and I8 joined by a side seam l3, this seam extending all theway from the bottom of the skirt to the armhole.

In the waistband region of the garment, at the side, I provide a placketopening '4. Where the garment has a side seam I3, this placket openingis arranged in alignment with this seam.

The rear edge of the placket opening is defined by the forward edgeregion l5 of the rear section I6 of the garment (see Figure 4), and thefront edge of the placket opening is defined by the end edge portion I!of the front section iii of the garment. It is to be understood thatFigure 4 is drawn on an enlarged and exaggerated scale.

In accordance with my invention, a special pocket element is associatedwith the garment for permanently sealing the placket opening on theinside. This pocket is composed of superimposed front and rear Walls [9and 20. The edges of these two walls are stitched together, as

at 2 I, along all but the outer edges of the pocket. These outer edgesare arranged in substantial alignment with the placket opening, and aresecured respectively to the opposed edges of the placket opening. Thatis to say, the outer edge portion 22 of the rear pocket wall 20 isstitched to the rear placket edge [5, as illustrated by the stitches 23;while the outer edge portion 24 of the front pocket wall I9 is securedto the front edge of the placket opening. The attachment of the pocketedge portion 24 to the placket edge portion ll preferably involves aninterengagement of the parts as indicated in Figure 4, the variouslayers of material being permanently held together by rows of stitching26.

As a result of this association of the pocket with the placket opening,the placket opening is always in a sealed condition, preventing anyaccess through this opening to the underside of the garment. For thisreason, there is no necessity for any slide fastener or other means forsealing the edges of the placket opening along its full extent, as wouldbe the case if the placket opening gave access to the underside of thegarment. Nevertheless, the relatively narrow waistband portion of thegarment is capable of expanding when the garment is pulled over the hipsor bust of the wearer during the process of putting the garment on ortaking it OH. This expansibility is roughly indicated in Figure 2, andis permitted to take place by virtue of the unfolding of the pocketWalls l9 and 28. These pocket walls serve as an interior pleat whichimparts additional girth to the garment at the waistband portionwhenever the garment is put on or taken off.

It will be observed that the inner edge of the pocket is inclinedupwardly toward the side of the garment. Where the garment includes aside seam 13, this inner edge converges upwardly with respect to thisside seam, and merges with the latter at a point 21 slightly below thearmhole. It is this upward inclination of the inner edge of the pocketconstruction that allows the interior pleat to taper upwardly, i. e.,the depth of the pleat diminishes gradually in an upward direction. Thisnot only provides the maximum expansibility where it is most needed,viz., in the region of the waistband portion, but it also serves toretain the pocket in proper relationship to the garment, whereby theparts readily assume the relationship shown in Figures 1, 3, and 4 afterthe garment has been put on.

It will also be observed that the lower edge of the pocket lies asubstantial distance below the lower end of the placket opening it. Thishelps the pocket to assume its proper position and also affords areasonable amount of pocket space.

After the garment has been put on, the two opposed edges of the placketopening are separably connected at approximately the waistline by meansof a fastener such as the button 28. This button is preferably carriedby the rear section 6 of the garment, and a corresponding buttonhole isprovided in or adjacent to the thickened and reinforced forward edge ofthe placket opening. The button 23, or equivalent fastening means, ispurposely positioned a sufiicient distance above the lower end of theplacket opening to permit access to the pocket, as indicated inFigure 1. Additional buttons or fasteners, similar to the button 28, maybe provided if desired, along the upper portion 01 the placket opening,but if the parts are properly designed and assembled, there is nonecessity for such additional fasteners except possibly for ornamentalpurposes.

In my earlier patent, No. 2,075,395 I showed how a pocket could beassociated with a pair of slacks or trousers to permit expansion of arelatively narrow waistband as the slacks were pulled upwardly over thehips. In such a waist-high garment, however, it is necessary to makesome provision for properly supporting the inner edge of the pocket, andit is possible to do so because of the fact that access to the undersideof the garment may be had from the upper edge of the slacks. In a fulllength unitary garment of the present character, I have found that theinner edge of the pocket will be properly positioned at all times if itis caused to extend obliquely upward and to converge toward and mergewith the side seam of the garment above the waistband region, in themanner herein described.

Obviously, the present pocket construction may be provided on either oneor both sides of the garment.

In general it will be understood that the details herein described andillustrated may be modified by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention asexpressed in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention and illustrated its use, what I claimas new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a unitary woman's garment having a waistband portion narrower thanthe bust and hip portions, a placket opening in the waistband region andat the side of the garment, and a seal for said opening comprising apocket whose outer edges are permanently secured respectively to theopposed edges of said opening, whose bottom edge lies substantiallybelow the lower end of said placket opening, and whose inner edgeconverges upwardly with respect to the side of the garment and mergeswith the latter at a point above the waistband portion of the garment,said pocket thus defining an expansible tapering interior pleat whichpermanently seals said placket opening but which nevertheless allows thewaistband portion to expand during the passage of the garment over thebust or hips of the wearer when the garment is put on or taken off.

2. In a unitary womans garment having a waistband portion narrower thanthe bust and hip portions, front and back sections connected by a sideseam. a placket opening in the waistband region and in alignment withsaid seam, and a seal for said opening comprising a pocket whose outeredges are permanently secured respectively to the opposed edges of saidopening, whose bottom edge lies substantially below the lower end ofsaid placket opening, and whose inner edge converges upwardly withrespect to said side seam and merges with the latter at a point abovethe waistband portion of the garment, said pocket thus defining anexpansible tapering interior pleat which permanently seals said placketopening but which nevertheless allows the waistband portion to expandduring the passage of the garment over the bust or hips oi the wearerwhen the garment is put on or taken on.

RUDOLF HIRSCHFELD.

